Things We Do for Love
by FaithinBones
Summary: Remember the skeleton in the beginning of The Verdict in the Story? Booth must solve that crime without Brennan's help.


(The Verdict in the Story)

A/N: I was on twitter the other day and someone mentioned that they would love to know why the skeleton they found at the beginning of 'The Verdict in the Story' was left the way it was. I hope you enjoy my story.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Surprised to see Caroline at the crime scene, Booth stared at the Prosecutor and wondered what was about to happen. "What are you doing at the crime scene?"

Captivated by the skeleton shaped like a ring, Caroline stared at it for few moments and then turned her attention upon Booth. "Dr. Brennan is suspended from all crime-related duties."

Shocked, Booth started to panic. "What?"

Worried that laughing at Booth about his theory about the body might have caused their partnership to end, Brennan responded with a little fear in her voice. "What for laughing at Booth?"

Picking up on her fears, Booth tried to fix what was happening. "That really doesn't bother me."

Her demeanor very serious. Caroline shook her head and explained what was going on. "We have a date for your father's murder trial. Booth is the arresting officer. You can't work together until it's over."

They both protested and tried to reason with the Prosecutor, but to no avail. The partners were being separated for the time being and that was final.

Her eyes lingering on the skeleton, Brennan sighed. "This one looked really interesting."

"Yeah." Booth echoed her sigh. "I'll let you know what happens."

Certain that was wishful thinking on her partner's part, Brennan smirked at Booth. "You're not going to solve it without me."

As Brennan left the scene, Booth moved closer to the skeleton, squatted down next to it, stared at the human pretzel and shook his head. _Shit! This is not happening._

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Dr. Clark Edison arrived at the crime scene an hour later and stared in shock at the contorted skeleton in front of him. "You've got to be kidding me."

As patiently as he could be, Booth stepped closer to Clark and let him know what they knew so far. "Thanks for coming out. Since Dr. Brennan isn't allowed to work this case she recommended you for the job. My techs looked over everything, but they didn't touch the skeleton. They collected particulates, bugs, dirt whatever was in and around the skeleton. I know it's late, but I need you to look over the skeleton, do your forensic thing and then we'll have everything moved to the Jeffersonian when you're ready."

Flattered, Clark nodded his head, placed his crime scene kit down, leaned closer to the bones and started to observe what he could at the scene. Working steadily, he wrote numerous notes, made a few sketches and finally turned to stare at Booth who was leaning against the wooden fence. "Pictures were taken of the crime scene?"

"Sure." Booth was tired, it was late and he wanted to go home for the day. "Are you ready to have everything sent to the Lab?"

A little nervous that he'd been given the responsibility by someone he admired, Clark swallowed and resolved to do everything by the book. "Yes, of course. Once the techs have the remains loaded in their truck, I'll leave and meet them at the Jeffersonian to take charge of the remains. It's late so I'll begin work in the morning. In a way it helps that there is no flesh to deal with, but it also means less to work with. I will do my best Agent Booth."

Hopeful that Clark was up to the task, Booth straightened away from the wall and glanced at his watch. "Alright. I'll be at my office tomorrow. You call me when you have identification."

 _Identification._ Clark captured his lower lip between his teeth. _I can do this. Dr. Brennan is confident that I can do it and I will._

Ooooooooooooooooooo

With the facial reconstruction done by Angela, Clark soon had an identification of the victim. Entering Booth's office, Clark stood just inside the doorway and cleared his throat. "Agent Booth. I've got an identity for the victim."

Eager to start working on the case, Booth stood up and motioned for Clark to come over to the desk. "Great that's great." Taking the folder from the forensic anthropologist, Booth motioned towards the chair in front of his desk and sat down behind his desk. Flipping open the folder, he read the report. "Henry Watson, aged 58, last know residence Wytheville, Virginia." Now silent, Booth read the short biography that Angela had provided Clark. _Served in the United States Army, served in Desert Storm. 5_ _th_ _Cavalry of 1_ _st_ _Cavalry Division. "_ Says here he was involved in the invasion of Iraq on February 1991 and was badly injured when the M2 Bradley IFV turret he was in was destroyed."

Clark nodded his head. "Three soldiers died, nine were hurt in that incident. Henry Watson was flown to Germany and then back here to Walter Reed. He was eventually given a medical retirement."

As he continued to read the file, Booth grimly realized that it was possible that he had met the man during his own stay at Walter Reed though he didn't remember him. "Cause of death was natural?"

"I'm fairly certain that's true." Clark had worked for two days on the skeleton and he was confident he knew how the man had died. "Of course we didn't have any internal organs to work with and the particulates and bugs didn't really tell us anything either, but I'm certain that the man died of natural causes. His bones showed decreased bone density and he had several remodeled fractures. He was an alcoholic and because he was a heavy drinker, his body had an imbalance that resulted from alcohol induced inhibition of osteoblasts . . . those are specialized cells that deposit new bone. I couldn't find anything pointing to the man being attacked or being in a physical altercation. His bones were so weak that if he had been attacked it would have shown in the bones. It's possible he died of complications from a diseased liver, but I don't know that for sure. There just isn't anything pointing to a violent death."

"Alright." Booth closed the folder and leaned back against his chair. "He may have died of natural causes, but he didn't die the way we found him."

A slight nod, Clark sighed. "Dr. Hodgins looked at the particulates and bugs and he said that the flesh had been removed from the bones and that the body was then placed where we found him. He definitely didn't die behind the tire shop."

His lips pursed, Booth thought about what Clark said for a moment. "So his bones were cleaned by someone before he was tied into a pretzel and placed in the alley behind the tire shop."

"Yes." Clark was pleased that Agent Booth was paying attention. "The bones were boiled to remove the flesh. Once that was done, someone used wire to articulate the bones. It was done very well although I'm not sure why they chose to bend the skeleton into that position."

"Maybe it was a way to get attention." Booth agreed with Clark. The whole thing was bizarre "I mean why else would someone set up a crime scene like that?"

A little uncomfortable with the reasons behind the staged scene, Clark shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not really sure about motive. It does seem plausible that this was done to garner attention, but why? Desecration of a corpse is a crime. And it's still remotely possible I'm wrong and the victim was murdered. I can't find any signs that it occurred, but he could have been smothered in his sleep or deprived of oxygen some other way. Poison would show up in the bones, so unless it's a fast acting drug like . . . well, if they used succinylcholine that wouldn't show up, but not a lot of people know about that particular drug at least not the average person on the street."

"What is it? It sounds familiar." Booth leaned on his desk and waited for the younger man to answer him.

Clark thought about it momentarily and wished there had been some flesh on the body. "It's a muscle relaxant. In high doses it stops the heart and lungs. The body turns it into potassium which occurs naturally in the body. That kind of poisoning is hard to prove."

"So we aren't a hundred percent sure it wasn't murder." Booth starting to feel frustrated and he missed his partner very much. "Okay, keep looking at the bones and see if you can pinpoint anything else and I'll start looking in to Henry Watson's life. Maybe I can figure out what happened to him."

Since he didn't have anything further to contribute, Clark stood up and hesitated before he spoke. "I'll work on it. I've also been hired by Dr. Brennan's defense lawyer to look at Director Kirby's remains. Ms. Julian says that it's not a conflict of interest."

Unable to stop the trial or influence what was about to happen, Booth nodded his head. "We all have jobs to do. Just let me know if you find out anything else about our victim. If you don't have time, let me know and I'll have Cam find someone else to work on it."

"No, I have time." Clark didn't want to give up on the case. It was so fascinating and he wanted to show Dr. Brennan that he was capable. He hoped to be hired by the Jeffersonian someday in the near future. "I can work on both."

"Alright." Booth picked up the folder and started to reread it. "Good job, Clark."

Pleased, the younger man moved over to the doorway and out into the bullpen. He wanted to help solve the case, so he planned to work on the skeleton as soon as he got back to the Lab and see if he could find anything new to help Booth.

Oooooooooooooooooo

The murder trial for Max Keenan had started, so Booth decided to do as much as he could on the Henry Watson case before he got pulled into the trial to testify. Caroline informed him that he would be called in to testify on the second day, so after going over Henry Watson's service record, he tracked down Henry's brother, Noah Watson and arranged to meet with him. A four and a half hour drive to Wytheville, Booth arrived at noon and met Noah at the Bob Evans restaurant near the highway. The man had waited for Booth to arrive in town to take his lunch hour. Once at the restaurant, Booth found Noah already there. After he shook the man's hand, Booth sat down, placed an order with the waiter and then turned his attention towards Noah. "Thanks for meeting me. Like I told you over the phone, we found your brother, Henry's remains four days ago in Washington D.C."

Sad that his brother was dead, Noah swallowed and nodded his head. "Henry . . . I haven't seen Henry for about four years. He had a lot of problems. Mostly survivor's guilt I guess. He never got over that he'd survived that tank explosion and three of his friends didn't. Plus he was in a lot of pain. His back was hurt during the explosion and he got hooked on pain pills for a while. He finally broke that habit, but he used alcohol to numb the pain instead. At least that's what he told me and Mom. I guess he traded one problem for another. We tried to help him stop, but he didn't want our help and he left town right after Mom died. I didn't know where he went . . . How did he die?"

"So far, it looks like natural causes." Booth picked up the glass of iced tea the waiter had delivered to their table and took a sip.

Confused, Noah ignored his glass of Coke and shook his head. "If he died of natural causes then why is the FBI interested in Henry's death? What aren't you telling me?"

Clearing his throat, Booth placed the glass back down on the table. "Henry's remains were found under bizarre circumstances. I can't go into it right now. You will be informed about the results of the investigation after I'm done."

"Kind of mysterious, but okay." Noah decided to trust the man sitting across from him. "I wish I could help you . . . um, he did have a friend in Washington D.C. . . . He was someone Henry met while he was a patient at Walter Reed . . . his name was Clarence something or other. I can't remember the last name. The only reason why I remember his first name is because the name is odd. The only time I've heard it is in the movies, so it kind of stuck out . . . kinda like your name Agent Booth."

Not really amused, Booth smiled anyway. "Yeah, I get that. Did Henry mention Clarence's job or where he lived in the District?"

Noah sipped some of his cola and placed the drink back down. "Clarence was a nurse at the VA. I remember that. I actually met the guy once at the hospital . . . He was African American, about ten years younger than Henry. Real nice guy and good at his job or at least that is what Henry said. It might be why Henry moved back to D.C. He and Clarence exchanged letters and phone calls for a few years. After Mom died, Henry said he didn't have a reason to hang around here . . . I don't want you to think Henry was a bum. Even when he was addicted to pain pills he worked and the alcohol didn't stop him from working either. He probably had a job in D.C., but he had his retirement so he didn't really need to work. It wasn't a lot of money, but it could pay the basics and that's all he ever really needed. He usually supplemented his check by working at restaurants. He couldn't do hard manual labor, but he could deliver food, things like that."

"I haven't found where he was living yet." Booth leaned back as the waiter delivered his lunch to the table. "If he was driving for restaurants, he didn't have a valid driver's license. The last driver's license he had was for here in Wythe County and it expired last year."

Puzzled, Noah shrugged his shoulders and picked up his fork. "I don't know what to tell you, Agent Booth. I haven't talked to my brother for four years. He just cut himself off from me and our Aunt Jennie. We were all the family he had, but I guess he didn't need us. I'm divorced and I don't have any kids."

Booth felt sorry for the man. He knew what it was like to have very little family. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Noah sniffed and stared at the food on his plate. "Yeah. I'm seeing someone and we're talking about getting married . . . Let me know when I can claim Henry's body. I want to bury him next to Mom and Dad. I don't want to bury him with strangers."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

After he returned to the District, Booth spent the early part of the evening in his office going over employment records at Walter Reed looking for Clarence. Once he found the object of his search, Booth called the man and asked him to come by the Hoover the next morning before Booth had to go to the courthouse. Glancing at his watch, he called Brennan and arranged to go to diner with her. As far as he was concerned she was acting very brave considering Max would probably go to the electric chair for what he'd done. Booth still worried that if Max was killed by the state that Brennan would blame him.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

At around eight the next morning, Clarence Berry came to the Hoover and met with Booth in the conference room. A little nervous the man kept rubbing the bottom of his mouth with a finger while he waited for Booth to start the interview.

"Clarence Berry. I've been told you were a friend of Henry Watson." Booth studied the man and realized that Clarence had calmed down considerably as soon as he'd started to speak.

His voice filled with sadness, Clarence nodded his head. "Yes, Henry and I were great friends. In fact he's been living with me for the last four years. He helped pay the rent and utilities. I didn't ask him to do that, he was just that kind of person. He didn't believe in sponging off people. His health was bad so he couldn't work. He kept the apartment cleaned, did the food shopping and cooked all of our meals while I worked at my job. It was fine by me. I'm a terrible cook. His mother had taught him how to cook and he could even bake bread from scratch." Clarence couldn't prevent it and felt a tear fall down his cheek. "He was the best friend I'd ever had."

Booth cleared his throat. "Do you know how he died?"

A far away look in his eyes, Clarence felt more tears slide down his cheeks. "He was hurt very badly in Iraq. His back, his lungs were damaged, there was a lot of things wrong with him and he knew he wasn't going to die of old age. We both knew it. Sometimes he had a hard time breathing and he'd just . . . he'd just fight for every breath he took." Clarence wiped the tears from his cheeks. "It was hard to watch him go through that. We had some oxygen tanks in the apartment he could use, but they only helped a little bit."

Sad that Henry had been in such pain, Booth knew he had to find out what had happened to Henry. "Can you tell me how Henry died?"

"I came home from work and found Henry on the floor in the bedroom." Clarence spoke quietly, but steadily. "He had the oxygen mask on over his nose and mouth, but he was dead. His body was cold, so he must have died shortly after I went to work."

"Clarence, Henry's skeleton was found tied into a circle." Booth couldn't grasp what had happened between Henry dying and his skeleton being found. "Can you tell me how that happened?"

Calmly, Clarence took an envelope out of his jacket pocket and held it in his hands. "Henry and I are Brennanites. We read everything written by Dr. Temperance Brennan. Henry and I collaborated on fanfiction based on the characters in her books. We went to two book signings and we were thrilled to meet her. She's just so brilliant and Henry was practically in love with her. So am I, I guess."

Confused, Booth tried to understand what that had to do with the way Henry's skeleton was placed. "Okay you're fans. How did Henry's skeleton end up the way it did? I assume you did it. Why did you do it?" Booth held up his hands. "Let me read you your rights first. Also maybe you should contact a lawyer before we continue this conversation."

Clarence waited for Booth to read him his rights and then handed the letter to Booth. "I don't need a lawyer. Read this and then I will answer any questions you have."

Warily, Booth took the envelope and opened it. After the letter was on the table, Booth read it.

 _My name is Henry Watson. I am dying and my friend Clarence is letting me stay with him while we wait for that to happen. He's a great guy, one of the best._

 _We are both big fans of Dr. Temperance Brennan. We keep track of her career as well as read her books. We know that in real life her partner is FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and they work on cold cases or the really bizarre cases._

 _Since I knew I was going to die, I decided to make my death more than the pathetic death Clarence and I knew it would be. I wanted to give back to Dr. Brennan all the happiness she has given me in the last couple of years. Her books kept me interested in the real world. I tried to hold on for her next book release, but I guess I didn't make it. She gave me a reason to live and I wanted to show my gratitude by giving her something interesting to work on._

 _I really had to work on Clarence to get him to go along with me, but he's such a nice guy and he wanted to give me my last wish. It was my plan that once I was dead, Clarence would dismember me and then boil my flesh and set up my skeleton somewhere in a weird poise. It was my idea to tie me up in a circle. That would be interesting wouldn't it? I hope it was anyway. I hope Dr. Brennan enjoyed the puzzle._

 _Please don't punish Clarence for doing what I asked him to do. He was just fulfilling my death wish. I'm not anyone special and most of the world won't care that I'm gone. Clarence loved me and I loved him. Besides my brother, all I really had was my dear friend Clarence. I really wanted to make the end of my life interesting for someone and who better than Dr. Brennan and her partner Agent Booth. I hope it gave you a few laugh anyways._

 _Once you're done with my bones, let Clarence have them. He promised to take my bones back home to Wytheville, so I can be buried next to my mother._

 _I lived my life the way I wanted it. I loved my mother, liked my brother and in the end I found someone to love me like all people should be loved. Clarence is the best thing that ever happened to me. I just hope I didn't make him regret being my friend when he had to fix my body for my final exit._

 _Henry Watson_

Once the letter was read, Booth folded it and placed it back in the envelope. "You're a good friend, Clarence."

Tears once more sliding down his cheeks, Clarence sat across from Booth a picture of grief. "I threw up a lot doing what he asked me to do, but I loved him and . . . well, I had to do it. It's okay if you have to arrest me. I understand. Henry didn't think I'd get into trouble once you read the letter, but I know I am in trouble. It's worth it though. Henry's death needed to be noticed by someone besides me and his brother . . . Did Dr. Brennan laugh? Henry wanted her to laugh when she saw him."

Slowly nodding his head, Booth gave the man a sad smile. "Yeah, she laughed."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

The trial was over and Max was a free man. Once all the excitement was over, Booth met Brennan at the Royal Diner for cup of coffee. "We figured out what that pretzel skeleton was about."

Surprised, Brennan placed her arms on the table and leaned on them. "You did? I was certain you wouldn't be able to solve it without my help."

A smirk on his face, Booth leaned forward on his arms. "Ha, Clark did a good job of identifying who it was and I took it from there."

Booth's silence after that statement was very annoying and she knew that he was waiting for her to ask what had happened to the victim. "Alright, you solved it. Now tell me who it was and why the skeleton was left that way."

Amused, Booth explained who the victim was and why Henry and Clarence did what they did. "You have got some really weird fans, Bones. This has got to be the top layer of the crazy cake."

Perplexed, Brennan frowned forming a crinkle between her eyes. "They did that for my attention? That is a little crazy."

"No shit." Booth laughed.

"Is Clarence going to be prosecuted?" Brennan wished that she had been able to talk to Clarence. The whole thing was bizarre.

Booth shook his head. "I talked to Caroline. Clarence is going to get probation for desecrating a corpse and the improper disposal of a body. He didn't murder anyone. All he did was fulfill Henry's last wish. He did it because he loved Henry."

"Love can make people do very stupid things." Brennan just didn't understand Clarence and Henry at all.

"Not stupid things, Bones." Booth sipped some of his coffee and then placed his cup down on the table. "We do things for love that other people might consider stupid, but the reasons aren't stupid to the one doing it." _Like leaving yourself open to be charged for a murder you didn't commit just to save your father. Fuck that was bad._

Brennan realized that she probably didn't have the right to call what Clarence did stupid considering what she had just done in court for her father. "Perhaps you're right. Motive does change things."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

I hope you liked my story. Let me know what you think of it. Thank you.


End file.
